The Weekly Wrap | 12/07/2024
The Weekly Wrap is a look at the biggest stories in music collected in one place for your reading ease.
HENRY WAGONS ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM, SHARES FIRST SINGLE ‘FREIGHT TRAIN (GOING SOUTH)’
In town for Beer & BBQ Fest this weekend, singer-songwriter Henry Wagons has announced the release of his new album, The Four Seasons.
Dropping August 16 via Cheatin' Hearts Records, the follow-up to his 2023 ARIA nominated record, South Of Everywhere, The Four Seasons has been described as a “modern Morricone-esque, outlaw surf trip.”
The alt-country singer also shared the album’s first single, ‘Freight Train (Going South)’, which was written with Wagons’ friend and longtime collaborator Si “The Philanthropist”.
Speaking about the tune, Wagons said: “Did you ever get the feeling that everything around you is going downhill, fast, and nobody is listening to you scream it from the rooftops? The whirlpool is sucking everyone into the drain at the bottom of the bathtub. The downward pull has a momentum as forceful and as noticeable as a freight train, going South, but no one is paying attention. But, let’s not forget, a train ride can be amazing and transformative, so let’s strap ourselves in the caboose and take the wild ride into oblivion.”
The Four Seasons is set for release on August 16 via Cheatin' Hearts Records. You can pre-order the album here.
QOTSA Cancel European Tour Due To Josh Homme Health Issues
Image via @QOTSA (Facebook)
Halfway through their tour of Europe, Queens of the Stone Age have been forced to cancel their remaining shows after the band revealed frontman Josh Homme needs urgent surgery.
The band have been tight-lipped on what health issues are plaguing Homme, releasing this statement after announcing the sudden end to the tour: “QOTSA regret to announce that Josh Homme must return to the United States immediately for emergency surgery. Every effort was made to push through and play for you, but it is no longer an option to continue.”
The news comes just a year after Homme shared in an interview with Revolver that he had a cancerous tumour removed in 2022. "I never say it can't get any worse. I never say that, and I wouldn't advise it. But I do say it can get better," he said. "Cancer is just the cherry on top of an interesting time period, you know? I'm extremely thankful that I'll get through this, and I'll look back at this as something that's fucked up — but will have made me better. I'm cool with that. There's a lot of stuff I want to do. And there's a lot of people I want to do that with."
The Note wishes Homme and his band all the best during this tough period.
Bob Dylan Announces The 1974 Live Recordings box set
Image supplied
Bob Dylan is releasing a massive box set of his live recordings from 1974, totalling a whopping 431 tracks. The 1974 Live Recordings arrives this September via Columbia and Legacy Recordings and includes 27 discs worth of music.
Of the 431 tracks, 417 are previously unreleased, making this extravagant box set a must for Dylan enthusiasts.
Jack White’s Third Man Recordings will also be releasing a box set with recordings from Dylan’s 1974 shows, although this one is more concise and consists of only 3 LPS.
To celebrate the release, Dylan released a never-heard-before live version of ‘Forever Young’ recorded in Seattle on February 9, 1974.
You can listen to the song below. Pre-order the box set and check out the full 431 tracklisting here.
AFL After Katy Perry for Grand Final Entertainment
Image by Jack Bridgland
Rumours are swirling that the Australian Football League is close to securing pop superstar Katy Perry as this year’s halftime entertainment.
The ever-reliable The Herald Sun noted the AFL is in “advanced stages of talks with Perry’s management about a multimillion-dollar deal”.
If the Perry deal is struck, she will join a long list of international artists who have performed, including the likes of The Killers, Robbie Williams, Ed Sheeran and KISS.
Her appearance would coincide with the release of her new album, 143, set for release on September 20 via Capital. You can listen to the album’s first single, ‘Women’s World’, below.
Yours and Owls Festival Moved To 2025
Image by Billy Zammit
Sometimes you just have to take the good with the bad. In this case, the good news is Yours And Owls Festival is returning for its tenth year. The bad news is due to headliner availability, the festival won’t be happening this year, with 2025 making the festival’s return.
Not wanting to disappoint fans, the festival has announced a 10th Birthday Pre-Party set to take place on Saturday, October 12 at the University of Wollongong Gardens.
The lineup for the 10th Birthday Pre-Party includes Golden Features, Peking Duk, Alice Ivy, DJ Anna Lunoe, CXLOE and more. The festival released a statement explaining why the changes were necessary:
“Yours and Owls Festival has hit double digits; that’s right, we’re growing up!
“We are pulling out all the stops to throw a huge party to celebrate! Due to headliner avails, the main event is moving into early 2025 (details will be announced real soon), but we will stop at nothing to ensure the Logistics Grinch doesn’t steal Gong Christmas (also, as you guys know, we love any excuse to throw a party), so, welcome our 10th Birthday Pre-Party on October 12th!”
Tickets for Yours and Owls Festival are on sale now via the festival’s website.
The Killers Receive Two Guinness World Records for ‘Mr Brightside’
The Killer’s #1 worldwide hit ‘Mr Brightside’ continues to break records two decades after it was first released.
The Guinness World Records has revealed the single has spent a total of 416 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, meaning ‘Mr Brightside’ has had the longest stay on the UK Singles Chart by a group and the most cumulative weeks on the UK Singles Chart. Impressive.
Talking with Guinness World Records, frontman Brandon Flowers said he never gets bored playing the tune.
“It’s infectious still to us, I know some people can’t wrap their head around it but you’ll see the response [when you see it live].
“It’s tough not to be touched by it or be excited by it and there’s going to be people tonight who’ve never seen it live, there’ll be some people who’ve seen it 45 times.
“And we just don’t get tired of it.”
Drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr. added: “We start it and then we enjoy the ride and then one of us has to stop it, it’s one of those kind of songs.
“It’s a highly reciprocal thing that happens and we enjoy the ride just as much as they do.”
Steelers Wheel Co-Founder Joe Egan Dies
Joe Egan, one-half of the ‘70s rock act Steelers Wheel, passed away this week. The news was revealed on the Facebook page of the late Gerry Rafferty, who co-founded the band with Egan.
Several photos of the two were shared alongside the caption: “Very sad news that the other half of Stealers Wheel, Joe Egan, passed away peacefully yesterday afternoon with his nearest and dearest around him. I will always remember him as a sweet and gentle soul. May he rest in peace.”
Steelers Wheel was best known for their hit 1973 single, ‘Stuck in the Middle with You’. The track peaked at #8 on the UK Album Charts and at #6 on the Billboard 100. The song had a resurgence in the 90s when Quentin Tarantino used it during the graphic ear-cutting scene in his debut feature, Reservoir Dogs.
Steelers Wheel was only together for three years before Egan and Rafferty pursued solo careers. Egan released his debut album, Out of Nowhere in 1979 and followed this with Map in 1981. He left the music business in the 90s.
Friday Five
You love music. We love music. Here are five songs we can’t get enough of this week.
1. Ben Böhmer & Lykke Li – ‘Hiding’
2. Nilüfer Yanya – ‘Call It Love’
3. Action Bronson – ‘Hogan’
4. Michael Kiwanuka – ‘Floating Parade’
5. Daniel Merriweather – ‘Indivisible’
